Ex-Oriole Thome is proof nice guys can finish first
With 612 home runs over a 22-year career, Jim Thome’s Hall of Fame resume was based on his ability to swing a bat.
He’s the all-time leader with 13 walk-off homers and widely regarded as one of the greatest clutch hitters of his era.
But Thome, who concluded his major league career playing with the Orioles in 2012, was a ballplayer first and foremost, as evidenced by a play he made at first base in the decisive Game 5 of the 1997 American League Division Series between the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees.
At a lumbering 6 feet 4 and 250 pounds, Thome was not the fleetest first baseman. But with a man on in the seventh and the Indians leading by a run, he dived to his right to rob Paul O’Neill of a ground single, rolled over on his left hip with his feet pointed toward first and effortlessly threw to second for a force.
Former Tribune columnist Jerome Holtzman described Thome as looking like a “beached whale” while making an impossible throw.
The defensive gem helped the Indians get out of the inning, and they went on to win the AL pennant.
Thome — who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame today with Chipper Jones, fellow former Oriole Vladimir Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman, Alan Trammell and Jack Morris — wasn’t the focal piece of those great Indians teams of the mid-1990s.
Thome kind of hid in plain sight in Cleveland, quietly doing his job and minding his own business. But for more TV: Online: Inductees: than a decade, he was a model of consistency on some powerhouse Indians teams, providing power on an annual basis and serving as a role model to athletes of every age.
No matter his personality, Thome would’ve gotten in based on his numbers and reputation as a clean player during the Steroid Era. There was never any talk of Thome cheating, and he was once asked whether he ever considered taking PEDs.
“My father would kill me if I ever did anything like that,” Thome replied.
That was Thome in a nutshell. Even after becoming a major league success, the pride of Peoria was still trying to follow the lessons his father taught him at a young age.
If baseball made a training video for minor-leaguers on how to handle the media, showing an interview with Thome probably would suffice. I never saw him blow off a reporter.
Thome understood the need to communicate with fans, and that meant dealing with the media, whether it was after hitting a walk-off homer or striking out four times. He didn’t have to treat people with as much respect as he did, but it was second nature to Thome.